Jacksonville medical examiner Dr. Valerie Rao testifies for the state in the George Zimmerman trial in Seminole circuit court, Tuesday, July 2, 2013 in Sanford, Fla.

The top pick for Jacksonville chief medical examiner called the Jacksonville search process overly political Monday and withdrew his name from consideration, just days before a search committee would’ve recommended him for appointment to the governor.

“The office seems to be fractured,” said Tom Beaver, currently the chief forensic pathologist in Oakland.

There are those who love current Jacksonville Chief Medical Examiner Valerie Rao, and there are those who hate Rao, he said. There doesn’t seem to be an in-between.

“I don’t want to engage in that squabble,” Beaver said.

Gov. Rick Scott appointed all medical examiners up for re-appointment last year except for Rao. Scott asked a search committee to provide more candidates he could consider.

That came after Jacksonville’s chief administrative officer sent a letter to the governor’s office last year criticizing Rao’s administrative ability. The letter pointed out that three-quarters of Rao’s staff had resigned. All but one resignation cited office conflicts. Eight of the 13 resignations specifically mentioned Rao.

Employees said they felt “bullied” and “insecure.”

Those problems, Rao has said, have been mostly fixed since then.

The office has more money from the city. The city raised employees’ pay and bought more equipment. The city appointed a new director of operations, Kim Bynum.

Bynum, Rao said, handles the administrative issues, so Rao can focus on the medical aspect of the job.

Though Rao is appointed by the governor, the city of Jacksonville pays her $190,000 salary.

The search apparently left Beaver with a bad taste.

Beaver said nobody from Jacksonville called him during the search process. In fact, he only learned he was the top pick when The Florida Times-Union told him during an interview.

“It would’ve been better if they had talked to me a little bit,” he said. “Perhaps I needed a little bit of hand-holding that I didn’t get.”

He accepted an interim job last week as the chief medical examiner in the Florida Keys.

Initially, the search committee met in secret and announced he was the top pick. Rao and another doctor, Michael Hunter, tied for second choice.

During a “cure meeting” held in public a week later to address concerns about the committee’s initial discussions, Bernie de la Rionda, an assistant state attorney, brought up a news article from 2003 that said Beaver claimed to be suicidal and was hospitalized.

When asked if State Attorney Angela Corey — co-chairwoman of the search committee — would comment, spokeswoman Jackelyn Barnard referred questions to the Medical Examiners Commission.

An incident that happened 11 years earlier is irrelevant, said Stephen Nelson, the chief medical examiner in Polk County and a member of the governor-appointed Medical Examiners Commission.

If Beaver had been absent at work, or if there was an indication he had mental health problems that affected his work, that may have been relevant, Nelson said. But bringing up a news article and not talking to any of Beaver’s colleagues or former bosses about it is disingenuous, Nelson said.

“It was a cheap shot,” he said.

Nelson said he’d been on probably eight search committees before, and this one stands out for its mediocrity. “The fact that there are so few names out there makes you wonder. Is there something additional that could’ve been done?” he said. “I don’t think I’m telling tales out of school that the salaries there at that office in Jacksonville are low.”

He said the search committee was “low-balling people.” The committee didn’t want to pay for any candidate’s travel to come look at the office. Instead, it conducted one interview by Skype, one interview by telephone and two interviews in person. The two in-person interviews were with Rao and Hunter, who travelled from Panama City.

“That sends a very loud and clear signal that they’re not very serious about getting quality candidates, really serious candidates,” Nelson said. “They’re essentially hiring a department director with basically a Skype interview.”

Last September, Gov. Rick Scott re-appointed all the chief medical examiners who were up for appointment except Rao. Instead, he asked that a search committee bring him more names for consideration.

On Thursday, the Medical Examiners Commission will meet, and Corey — the leader of the search committee — will present one additional name, Hunter.

Hunter is the chief medical examiner in Panama City, and before that, he was the chief medical examiner in the Florida Keys. He declined comment.

When the search committee ranked its candidates in its cure meeting, Beaver was ranked first, Rao was ranked second and Hunter was ranked third.

Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford said he was “very happy” with Rao, and she seemed to be turning the office around. He and Corey said Rao was their top choice, and Beaver was their last choice.

Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler, who the governor also appointed as a member of the Medical Examiners Commission, said he believes Rao is a good pathologist, capable of autopsies. But Jacksonville needs someone who can also manage an office.

“I have not heard anything negative about her skills when it comes to pathology,” Beseler said. “However this job requires leadership and requires management skills.”

Rao had a history of complaints in previous jobs, including a failed reappointment in 2003 in Hernando County. The county sheriff wrote she “lacks the administrative ability to manage her office.”

After Hernando County, she went to Columbia, Mo., but that job only lasted a year. She resigned after a newspaper reported she was criticized for performing an excessive number of autopsies. Rao cited personal reasons in her resignation, and she was hired in Jacksonville the next month.

Trust me when I say a national press release is in the works right now with more to follow behind it.

Angela Corey acknowledging and admitting to law officials my daughter was murdered claiming Dr Rao and JB Police Patrick Dooley botched it so bad she could not prosecute then goes forth and stands beside them endorsing Rao as Chief Medical Examiner and Commander Dooley to Chief of JBPD.

Now with that being said imagine your child be transported by a tree shrub and debris removal business as an unlicensed transporter. Just imagine ALL the other CITIZENS transported the same way and imagine that class action lawsuit then there is our belief that is why it is so politically covered up.

Even before she became State Attorney she was arrogant, a bully, and when Harry Shorestein fired her (probably should have done so before he did), she had a reputation of being vindictive. The only change over the years is she has gotten worse. Her puppets, Rutherford, the ME, and certain prosecutors in the SA's office seem to have only requirement, do it her way or else suffer the consequences.

When the Governor received the hand delivered Petition of over 100,000 signatures for removal from office, he refused to even consider the petition. As Govenor, and vowing he wants the best for Florida, he sure falls short in recognizing the embarrassment the State Attorney's Office is to Duval County. Angela Corey's reputation for withholding and or destroying evidence, overcharging cases, and arrogance of "daing anyone to question her decisions" should have been enough for him to order an investigation by the Florida Bar Ethics Committee. To ignore doing this, probably cost him about 100,000 votes --

Okay so seriously it is pathetically sad when we for my daughters case have to go out of state to expose Dr Rao crappy job of her claimed autopsy performed on my daughter. There WAS NOT AN AUTOPSY PERFORMED!

If here in Jacksonville district they claim what an awesome job of autopsies being conducted and now this article of claimed political aggenda..... We totally agrer esprcially when I received a call from Texas last week during the holiday from Texas advising me of thw same exact story as FTU is just releasing today.

All the minion team desperately to keep Rao on top of their cover ups.......come on people when will thiscease and get turned around for some honesty and respect the tax paying citizens deserve REALLY......